silver plated speaker cables

[olds1959special]

Considering pure silver is too expensive, would silver plated be a good idea?

[Holmz]

If it is sounding good, then maybe just stick with it?

(I am 90% sure that the insulation is more important than the conductor material.)

[GdnrBob]

Unless you have lots of time and money to experiment, it seems to make more sense to buy a well made cable that works with our speakers.

My 2 cents...

B

[ctsooner]

Folks need to focus on getting the correct components first. Then go to the cables and cords.  There is no correct answer to this question.  When talking about silver vs silver plated etc...  What is the grain size of the silver wire (same for copper and you want as large grains as you can  as there are fewer 'rivers' between the solid particles.)?  Was it machine or hand pulled?  Not all silver is the same in the same way that all copper is different.  AQ didn't randomly figure out their red copper was best for the base of some of their top cables.  If you read up on the top AQ stuff, it's even called long grain copper with perfect surface (marketing, but legit).

 

It's always how components are implemented and not what material is used.  You also need to keep in mind what price range your system is.  There are a few brands that are known to work great with Vandersteen speakers.  How long are your speaker cables?  Audioquest makes great neutral cables and cords. They almost always work great with Steen's.  Always look to see what the dealers are selling with their speakers as they want happy customers.  You don't always save money getting off brand gear.  

It's fun to play and for many that's the best part of high end audio.  That said, it will cost most money as it's hard to sell used what is purchased used.  If someone really wants the best sounding stuff, trust your own ears and not the rest of us.  As BK basically said, we all have advices and what makes our thoughts better than someone else's?  There are a handful of folks I will trust when asking questions about gear.  Richard, Brad, Rutan, Spelt, Jim and a few others are some of the only folks I know who's advice I can trust implicitly.  One of my dear friends writes are TAS and I have heard his system many times and know where are hearing differences/preferences are.  Based on that I can figure out if something is worth trying.  JMHO

[Richard Vandersteen]

23 hours ago, olds1959special said:

Considering pure silver is too expensive, would silver plated be a good idea?

Most silver-plated copper sounds very bright unless the silver plate is thicker than normally done so be sure to listen.  Heavy silver plate can be very good but one would want to audition before purchase!  RV

[olds1959special]

I found this, but it's 12AWG which probably won't fit into my amp side without trimming a few strands off the cables.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121788699053?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=3q_7EDw-RcS&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=UaUkBnVTQLu&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

Worth trying?

Edited June 10 by olds1959special

[GdnrBob]

4 hours ago, olds1959special said:

Worth trying?

Well, looks inexpensive enough.  lf you like trying new things, go for it.

[Holmz]

On 6/11/2024 at 1:19 AM, olds1959special said:

I found this, but it's 12AWG which probably won't fit into my amp side without trimming a few strands off the cables.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121788699053?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=3q_7EDw-RcS&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=UaUkBnVTQLu&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

Worth trying?

Mogami or Beldon or Canare might be more standard.
Mogami is what I almost always go for when using a standard insulation, but the others are also quality standard cables.

I would personally avoid anything without some branding off of eBay etc. It could just be zip-cord, which is probably OK… but if I am going to use zip-cord, then I would just get it from the local hardware store.

Edited June 12 by Holmz

[X5owner]

FWIW, I use DH Labs Q10 Signature speaker cables with my original Quatros. They can be run internal biwire but I use dual runs. Audioquest spades on the speaker end and WBT spades on the amp end. They are stranded, silver plated “UPOCC” and to my ears are not bright at all, just detailed with nice full bass.  Not budget cables but not ultra high end either and often available used since they have been continuously made for about 10 years in the Signature version. Or new direct from DH Labs. 

[DC-93]

12 ga lamp cord from a hardware store works great!!

[Oregon]

Pete, Jim or Bob directed me to this stuff - https://www.ebay.com/itm/175799624483

Working just fine with my Manley/Vandersteen rig.

[Holmz]

There are 2 schools of thought on cables.

1. Only the resistance, capacitance and inductance matter.
   1. And construction (RCA/XRL) and noise immunity shielding.
2. Every little thing matters, including blocks to raise the cables up off of the floor.

There are hundreds of yards of enamel coated solid core copper spooled up on the voice coils, and in the inductors in the drivers and cross overs. So an extra couple of feet of some other copper or silver will not matter.
And I cannot think of a single speaker driver that uses silver for the voice coil, but there has to be one that sets itself apart from a marketing perspective.

If one is in group #2, then they will certainly hear every change regardless of whether or not the change is objectively measurable.

Group #1 usually point to all the recording engineers, studios, and mixing houses are using the same general copper interconnects by the mile or kilometre.

[olds1959special]

I was getting listener fatigue so I set my contour controls to flat and then changed the interconnect cable from silver to copper and it helped. I think the old adage is silver for tubes and copper for solid state.